Caribbean Graphic February 2013

VOL. 7, NO. 03 • February 6, 2013 618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected]

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Style done by Passion Hair Creations Sunday Brunch Caribbean Buffet

Now Offered At Leela’s Having quickly established its reputation

for hosting one of the most sumptuous and reasonably priced Caribbean Buf-

fet’s to be found anywhere in town, Leela’s Tropi-cal Nights Restaurant and Lounge has added yet another attraction for its patrons. The increasingly popular Restaurant is now offering an all-you-can-eat, one-of-a-kind Caribbean Brunch Buffet on Sun-day’s from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Dozens of delicious traditional Caribbean breakfast items, including baigan chokha, dhall, salt fish and bakes, will be on offer for the very reasonable price of only $9.95 per person.

Conveniently located in Scarborough at 1154 Morningside Ave, at Sheppard just north of Hwy 401, Leela’s is a family restaurant serving Caribbe-an Style Chinese and West Indian Cuisine. Leela’s has quickly become famous for its thirty-plus item Caribbean Halal Dinner Buffet, that’s available on weekends, from Friday to Sunday.

Leela’s owners, the husband and wife pairing of

Sunday Brunch Caribbean Buffet Now Offered At Leela’s

Steve and Leela Dindyal, are hoping that their tasty multi-item Sunday Brunch of-ferings will be an instant hit amongst food lovers within the Caribbean commu-nity and beyond. Sunday church goers, who having been spiritually fed with God’s word may then find themselves with an insatiable appetite for the added comfort of good food, will certainly be amongst those who will find great value in partaking of Leela’s Brunch Buffet.

With an ambiance that can best be described as warm, comforting and decidedly unpretentious, Leela’s Restaurant and Bar has also become somewhat of a haven for quality Friday and Saturday night entertainment that’s proven attractive to its ma-ture clientele. Leela’s regularly hosts exciting, quality bands like Fuh Fun, much to the delight and satisfaction of its patrons. The restaurant is also available as a rental venue for family functions, and special occasions.

On Sunday, February 3 at the Toronto West Seventh Day Adventist Church, Grenadi-

ans and supporters of Grenada came together with jocundity, patriotism and pride to celebrate their 39th year of in-dependence from Britain.

The three hour commemorative occa-sion included astounding performanc-es by the award winning country gos-pel artist Shirley Simpson, Kathy-Ann Charles Tobin as well as other endowed Grenadians beaming with pride.

An independence message from the Prime Minister of Grenada, the Hon. Tillman Thomas was conveyed by the Hon. Consul General Jenny Gumbs.

Throughout PM Tillman’s message he earnestly encouraged Grenadians to be

proud of their significant achievements throughout the past 39 years and by continuing to foster a cooperative spirit and hard work, they will benefit from the fruits of their labour which will pro-pel Grenada forward.

The celebratory events taking place from February 3-24, 2013 are sure to be quite impressive and diverse in nature. The Grenada Independence Planning Committee (GIPC) has worked ardu-ously to execute festivities ranging from the Showcase Grenada Expo to the In-dependence Soiree ‘Spice It Up’ which will feature 2012’s 400m Gold Medalist Kirani James.

This will be a special anniversary for Grenadians and those of Grenadian heritage.

by Christine Reid 393939 YearsYearsYearsGrenada Celebrates of IndependenceGrenada Celebrates of IndependenceGrenada Celebrates of Independence

L-R: Pastor Frankie Lazarus, Shirley Simon, Grenada’s Consul General Jenny Gumbs and Joseph Mitchel,

President of the Grenada Community Network, were amongst hundreds who attended the February 3

Grenada Independence Celebrations Church Service.

CARIBBEAN GRAPHICPAGE 2 February 6, 2013

International mobile top up is a highly convenient service for millions of people around the

world to stay connected to their fam-ily and friends back home. Ezetop is the leading and fastest growing cor-poration in mobile phone recharge and they work alongside with Digi-cel, Lime, T-Mobile as well as 220 diverse operators throughout the world.

Dianne Millan is the Business Development Man-ager for Ezetop Canada and in her role she is re-sponsible for managing large corporate accounts and working closely with distributors in fortune five hundred companies including Canada Post and MoneyGram. Being an action-oriented and results focused individual has served Millan quite well in all of her distinguished professional endeavours.

When Millan migrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago at the age of 17, she immediately began to better herself through education. Recognizing that it is essential for expansion and empowerment, Millan completed her post secondary studies in Tele-communications and Networking. Shortly after, Millan became employed by AT&T and then moved her way up the corporate ladder to Sprint Canada and Rogers where she spent 12 years making highly lucrative contributions towards organizational goals.

Millan always possessed an innate curiosity most about the way information is transmitted electroni-cally. Being a consumer wasn’t enough for Millian; it was necessary to know and become extremely fa-miliarized with the way communication is created. “I needed to know how it works and how does the world communicate. It’s not just a telephone call; there are so many aspects to a phone call and what takes place and so I wanted to learn all of that.” said the adept sales professional with profuse expertise in electronic communications.

The level of enthusiasm that Millan deposits in her

work has been a crucial in-strument in her outstand-ing career achievements. Millan has a proven track record in excelling in ev-ery position as well as surpassing company tar-gets by significant mar-

gins. “By always being the number one sales rep it has given me more passion to find out more about data services work, internet services and anything to do in the communication sector.” explained the multi-ple sales award recipient for top industries such as Rogers, AP Global and Eco Carrier Inc.

Within the next few years Millan aspires to have every ethnic group become thoroughly conversant about the services Ezetop has to offer to their con-sumers. “My long term goal is not only creating the awareness in Toronto but throughout Canada and also having all retail stores carry our products. With-in the next year or two, Ezetop is going to be well known in Canada.” said Millan. In early spring all major chain convenient stores will be offering Ezetop services and by the end of the year all retail stores in Canada will be offering top up services to their customers.

Being a woman of Caribbean descent has been a struggle for Millan in the previous positions held in the telecommunications industry. In spite of this, her success in sales made her an incredible asset that has left an indelible mark with both her employers and colleagues. “I knew what I was doing and I was con-fident in what I was doing and I fully understood what the customer wants.” explained Millan.

The telecommunications and networking industry has taught Millan a lesson that was of great magni-tude which is to listen first and then speak. “Listen-ing is one of the biggest things in life that you could do in order to be a successful person and it is really

Passion Equals Productivity For Dianne Millan

Christine

Reid

important in sales.” said Millan. The strains of the past only served to propel Millan forward and what was considered a setback is now a plus point for Millan in her current managerial position with Eze-top Canada. “Ezetop was looking for someone like myself with a Caribbean background and a telecom background” said Millan with great confidence.

There are numerous advantages in choosing a ca-reer that you are passionate about and it is a key ele-ment in producing positive energy in both your pro-fessional and personal life. “If you find something that you like to do then you will never work one day. My success in sales and development is because of the passion I have for what I’m doing. I’m not only doing what I want to do but what I love to do.” ex-plained Millan. Even though Millan’s profession is highly demanding and absorbs a lot of hours, it has never been taxing on her physically or mentally. Millan’s enthusiasm for what she does has always fu-eled her productivity which then allows her to enjoy the results of her labour and it has attracted positive people into her life.

CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 3

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February 6, 2013

Grenadian beautyVivian Charlott Burkhardt is a beauty queen who represented Grenada in Miss World 2007 in Sanya, People’s Republic of China, where she placed as one of the semi-finalists. Having graduated from The TA Marryshow

Community College with an Associate Degree in Natural Science, she has completed her studies as a pre-med student at St. George’s University.

She received her bachelor’s degree in Basic Medical Science, and was also pursuing her MD at St. George’s University.

Vivian, who is half Grenadian and half German, was born in Germany and moved to the island of Grenada when she was 15 years old. She is

fluent in German and English and knows some French. Among her major interests are alternative energy and the environment.

The Caribbean Children’s Foun-dation, (TCCF) will be hosting its annual Valentine’s Dinner

Dance on Sunday, February 9 at the Empire Banquet Hall, 246 Brockport Drive (Hwy 27 & Belfield. Themed “Roses, Chocolates and Diamonds”, this year’s Gala will be emceed by First Friday’s Founder, Warren Salmon. The evening’s entertainment will be head-lined by the outrageously hilarious co-median, Marc Trinidad. Music will be supplied by Deejays Arjune and Alex.

Tickets for the Gala evening are ex-tremely reasonably priced at $40. This includes Empire’s sumptuous Dinner Buffet. There will be roses for the la-dies and lots of attractive door priz-es, including an El Dorado Jewellery sponsored diamond ring, valued at over $1,000.

All proceeds from the evening will

go towards the CCF’s ongoing chari-table and highly commendable efforts to provide Caribbean Children with financial assistance towards required medical treatments. The Foundation’s mandate is to “assist poor children from the Caribbean suffering from life-threatening ailments, for which no treatment is available in their country, to receive treatment at hospitals in and out of Canada.”

Since its establishment in 2000, the TCCF has raised over $1 million dol-lars and has provided treatment for 54 children from seven Caribbean coun-tries. The TCCF proudly boasts that no one within the Organization “is paid a salary or wages. TCCF is managed and run entirely by volunteers. Every pen-ny goes directly to the cause!”

And a very worthwhile cause it is indeed!

Roses, Chocolates & Diamonds

For Valentines

Charm’s Beauty Works will be hosting their Hair and Beau-ty Show on Sunday, April 7

at the Ajax Convention Centre. Show times will be from 3:00 – 8:30 pm.

Sponsored by Beauty Collection Inc and Royal Imex, the Show’s intention

is to showcase the amazing talents of Charm’s Beauty Works’ and other hair stylists.

Booths are available for related com-panies wishing to promote their re-spective services in the fields of beauty and fashion.

Mark Your Calendars For The April 7 Hair Show


In the elementary schools I attended in the fifties, this racist chant was common.

Now, fifty years after Indepen-dence, making, buying, selling or eat-ing roti is not limited to any one race. It is not the speed with which the roti “done” but the question, “Where de roti gone?” As we say in Trinidad, it “gone for higher”.

Now you can buy all the differ-ent variations of roti in Toronto, New York, Miami and wherever Trinidadi-ans and other West Indians live, lime and labour.

In 1962, the roti best known out-side of the home was the “dhal puri”. There is no such commodity in India, where a puri is either a flat, flaky bread cooked in ghee (clarified butter), or a dish made by mashing or grinding peas, vegetables or meat and cooking it in hot water.

The purists say that what we call a “dhal puri” is really a dhal paratha which is a stuffed roti but in Trini-dad what is called a “paratha” is not stuffed and is known as a “buss-up-shut”, taking its name because of its likeness to a tattered shirt. The version of roti that is the breakfast and dinner staple, is “saada” which means “home-ly”, “simple” or “rustic” in Hindi but, in South India, would be a “chappati”. However, the Trinidad “roti” is made using baking powder as a leavening agent and not yeast which is used to make “nan”, the generic Hindi word for “bread”. The first time I heard the name Kofi Annan I thought it was an Indian breakfast.

It is not surprising that the Indian indentured immigrants to Trinidad, coming in contact with the British and mingling with the other races and cul-tures that comprised the most cosmo-politan of countries of the Caribbean, should come up with some culinary innovations. Although barra (or bara, a fried flatbread originally made from ground peas and flour) exists in In-dia and in other places where curried channa (chick peas) is a staple, it is Trinidad that invented the “doubles”, a sandwich made by putting curried channa between two barras.

Now you can get doubles almost

anywhere in the Caribbean, North America and Britain. The “pulao” or mixed rice dish of India became “pelau”

and was popular long before roti made the hit parade. Even in music technol-ogy, the country that gave the world the steel pan also reputedly invented the “dhantal”, a percussion instru-ment that was fashioned out of the iron “bows” that yoked the oxen that pulled the cane-carts.

The dhantal and “chutney” mu-sic, another Trinidadian invention, go together like a roti with a Red Solo soft-drink or “curry duck” and a river “lime”. In politics, the combination of “rum” and roti characterized a unique form of garnering votes for elections that was not limited to race.

When Trinidad became Independent in 1962, we did not understand what was happening or appreciate what we had. Boys and girls of East Indian de-scent leaving their rural villages to go to the city High Schools and Colleg-es had an especially rough time. We studied by rote and by roti. There was a lot of stuff to memorise but what has stayed in our memories longest was the shame that we were made to feel for taking our saada roti to school.

Saada roti was not well known out-side the household. Civilised people bought bread from the bakery or had enough money for sandwiches from the school’s “tuck” shop or the “par-lours” or cake shops outside. We car-ried our food in oily, curry-soaked paper (one bag per week) bags or wrapped in brown paper and we hud-dled together, rotis held close to our mouths, hurriedly gulping down our food, sometimes with mouthfuls of pa-per, so ashamed were we.

It was “doubles” that served as the wedge that opened the floodgates for Indian food. Doubles vendors were always around but increasingly there were more of them and their customers were not limited to Indians. Paratha was next to taste the limelight. It might be because of the name by which this roti is best known. “Buss-up-shut” captured the Trini imagination.

Paratha, which is also a misnomer in the classic Indian sense since it is

By Tony

Deyal

“Coolie, coolie come for roti, all de roti done!”

Humble Roti Scaling New HeightsHumble Roti Scaling New Heights

not stuffed with anything, is made to separate into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Unlike the dhal puri, it cannot be used as a wrap but has to be served sepa-rately from the curry. This requires a container. Interestingly the paratha went mainstream when containers be-came commonplace. In a way it dem-onstrated that there is a link between food and technology – the barra and dhal puri needed only pieces of brown wrapping paper and paper bags which were common.

The paratha needed a container and became popular when these were available in Styrofoam, cardboard and plastic.

What about the saada roti as the breakfast food of choice of so many Trinidadians? Its present popular-ity has as much to do with health and changing lifestyles as with taste. In ru-ral homes, the husbands worked and the wives, even if they laboured in the cane-fields, were still responsible for the home and the food. Work started from before four a.m. and the bread vans came much later so that roti was the fastest, easiest and, for most Indi-ans, the only palatable solution.

However, with the new generation where both men and women work but despite the increased income still have to hustle early in the morning to avoid the traffic, it is easier to buy breakfast than wake up and cook. The rationale for continuing to want Indian food is that the last thing people give up is their food. They are willing to change their language, their clothing and their external lifestyles but are very reluc-tant to part with their food which, for them, is the most important of comfort zones. In fact, under stress most peo-ple revert to their comfort foods.

The health fad also helped. The “chokhas” or pulped or mashed veg-etables (“aloo” or potato, tomato, “baigan” or eggplant) that accompany the saada are healthier than bacon and eggs. Health-conscious Trinis even-tually hopped onto the bandwagon. Now, saada roti has become the break-fast dish of many people in both rural and metropolitan areas.

For lunch, you can also buy dhal (split-pea soup), rice and any of the

curries or chokhas in the food courts of the many malls throughout the country.

In the intervening years between 1962 and today, there were two other phenomena that helped to take roti and other Trinidadian East-Indian products outside the country. One was the migration of many skilled workers to other parts of the world. Because of Trinidad’s long established petroleum industry, there are Trinidadians work-ing in every oil-producing country in the world.

Also, during the past fifty years many Trinidadians have migrated to the US and Canada. These people, many of whom were of East Indian descent, missed their “home” food and eventually, some found a living making and selling “local” food to the others.

The other event is the rise of “chut-ney”, a hot and spicy music mix asso-ciated with Trinidadian Indian culture. It is a unique combination of Hindi and Trinidadian English, calypso, soca and Indian melodies. Increasing-ly it carved its own niche in the mu-sic world. While the song that took it over the national and global threshold was Sonny Mann’s “Lotala”, the indi-cations were always clear that chutney would emerge as one of the country’s global cultural exports.

Today roti has come out of the closet or the safe, the brown paper bag and the dirt fireside or “chulha”. You can get any variation in the supermarkets, not just in Trinidad but throughout the diaspora. At the same time, there are signs that the tossed salad that Trini-dad is, has been quietly fusing into the melting pot that it should be.

The emergence of roti is one of the contributors to a growing national uni-ty of taste and culture – not what we put on the stage but our way of life and our values. It is only under the pres-sure of politics that we tend to become tribal. Hopefully, we can learn from the humblest and most homely of ro-tis and evolve beyond that – saada but wiser.

(Article compliments Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce’s CONTACT Magazine)

CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 5

Caribbean Perspective

Sandra Ann

Baptiste

February 6, 2013

Mixed Views On Calls For A New Regional Private Sector BodyA debate is on-going among

regional private sector leaders and groups as to

what, if anything, should replace the now dysfunctional Caribbean Asso-ciation of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), once an influential regional umbrella business association. For-mer board member and former head of Guyana’s Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo, believes there is an urgent need for a new vibrant regional private sector organisation that could repre-sent and safeguard the interests of the business com-munity across the region.

He’s recommended that a new Caribbean private sector association should have as its core members the umbrella organisations in each of CARICOM’s member states. This could include the PSC in Guy-ana, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA). Dookhoo is confident that donor organisa-tions would be willing to help finance the launch of a new Caribbean private sector organisation.

In the 80’s and 90’s, the CAIC, then based in Barba-dos, had a seat at the table at the annual CARICOM Heads of Government Summits and made well-re-searched and detailed presentations on intra-region-al trade and other issues affecting the private sector. Guyanese Pat Thompson, who was at the helm of the organisation was well known for his influential role in representing the interests of the Caribbean busi-ness community.

Executive Director of the Barbados Manufactur-

ers Association (BMA) Bobbi Mc Kay feels a restructured CAIC will not be a vehicle from which the BMA can benefit, especially given the numer-ous intra-regional trade challenges the country’s manufacturers are fac-ing. Mc Kay feels there is too much self- interest and not enough region-

al cooperation when it comes to trade among CARI-COM Member States. She asserted that while Bar-bados markets are “wide-open” to other CARICOM countries, there is no reciprocity in this regard.

Mc Kay says the BMA was not an active member of CAIC for over six years as it could not see the val-ue of the regional umbrella private sector body. She doesn’t agree that any restructured regional private sector group should have as its core members nation-al umbrella private sector organisations, since these umbrella groups deal with macro issues affecting the private sector and not the day-to-day challenges.

Mc Kay’s Trinidadian counterpart, Ramesh Ram-deen also feels that a revitalised CIAC or any sim-ilar organisation being mooted, is not the right fit. He contends that the interests of Chambers of Com-merce, who mainly represent importers, and those of manufacturers are quite different.

Ramdeen, who is CEO of the very dynamic Trini-dad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA), is calling for a regional manufacturers association to be established. Such a group, he argues, can repre-sent the interests of manufacturers in international trade negotiations and the manufacturers in the re-gion through a regional organisation. The TTMA’s

Executive Director believes the DR’s full member-ship in CARICOM is inevitable but it is a question of whether this process is being accelerated when there are current obstacles in trade between the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country and CARICOM States.

While the debate continues about a replacement for the CAIC, the much talked about Caribbean Busi-ness Council (CBC) continues to be stalled and pri-vate sector organisations in the region seemed to be unaware of the status of this proposal. Legislation for the CBC was apparently drafted and in the of-fices of the CARICOM Secretariat. The Council was intended, among other things, to have regular dia-logue with the region’s Heads of Government. The last public information about the Business Coun-cil was in September 2011 when CARICOM Secre-tary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque met with CAIC President Carol Evelyn in St. Kitts and Nevis.

In the meantime, some initiatives out of Port of Spain, suggest moves are being made once again to re-establish a regional umbrella private sector group. The need for such an organisation is clear but its mo-dus operandi will have to be vastly different from the original CAIC, given not only the changed eco-nomic circumstances in most CARICOM countries, but also the calls from manufacturers for a regional grouping of their own. The pace at which regional governments implement agreed upon decisions is alarming. On this issue, the Caribbean private sector needs to show some maturity, put regional interests first and make a decision sooner rather than later.

(Sandra Ann Baptiste is a Business Consultant and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs)

The cancer that had ravaged her body for over five years, finally claimed its victory over

Kelly McCarthy. She passed on Janu-ary 29th, just days shy of what would have been her forty-first birthday on February 6.

For those who may not be familiar with who Kelly McCarthy was. She is, was, the beautiful young Canadian lady that was featured in our October 24 (CG621) Issue. We’d given deserved coverage to the gallant efforts her close friends were making back then to raise funds to help cover the escalating costs of her cancer treatments. As fate would have it such treatments were only ever going to provide comfort, as the dis-ease had already long since become irreversible.

But what a courageous, heroic fight our dear Kelly gave before she finally became yet another of cancer’s count-less victims. With every fibre of her ail-ing body, she clung to life with such tenacity, absolutely refusing to let go. She valued life so much that even dur-

ing her last days, as part of her was sadly making the necessary final prep-arations for her impending departure, her courageous spirit was holding on for as long as humanly possible.

During the afternoon of Tuesday, January 29, when the long anticipat-ed dreaded news finally came that her valiant struggle had ended, the overwhelming emotion one felt was strangely that of almost disbelief. She had fought so courageously and again with such tenacity for so long, that it was hard to comprehend that she’d ac-tually lost her battle.

She is now sadly gone, but Kelly will live on in the memories of those who were privileged to have known her. First and foremost she will forever serve as an inspiration, for courage in the face of the greatest possible adver-sity any of us could ever likely face, that of impending death. More im-portantly, her relatively short life and premature demise should serve as yet another harsh reminder to us all, that tomorrow is promised to no one.

As very wise person once counselled “yesterday is a memory and tomor-row an uncertainty, but today is a gift, that’s why it is called “the present!” Instead of taking this life for granted, as we all far too often tend to do, we should perhaps value it a bit more by living it to the fullest.

For an example of how to live life to the fullest by adding meaning to our existence, we need look no further than Kelly. “Kind, joyous, loving, over-ly generous, tremendously support-ive to her family and friends!” Those were the words Kelly’s brother used in the eulogy he gave at her Memorial Service.

Others will fondly remember her un-bridled joyous embracing and accep-tance of our Caribbean culture. As we wrote back in last October, despite her Canadian Irish origins, she quickly be-came “we people.” Someone we fond-ly regarded as much as our own, as if her navel string had been buried in the sands of the Caribbean.

As her sister reported previously,

Kelly also had a very admirable and unselfish attitude towards others, cou-pled with an exemplary sense of com-munity spirit. Three years ago, despite her own condition, she pulled together a team of her lady friends to partici-pate in the “Run for the Cure” spon-sored by CIBC. While still undergo-ing treatment herself, her team “Boobs in the City” and “Boob in the City 2” was the second top women’s team in Toronto raising almost $25,000 over a two year period.

In his bestselling book, “Who Will Cry When You Die,” Robin Sharma advocates that we should each live our lives in such a manner that when the time inevitably comes for us to receive our heavenly wings, our existence would have had meaning to others. As she left us Kelly must surely have known that not only did her life have meaning, but it will now also serve as an inspiration to all that were so privi-leged as to have known her. May she rest in peace.

The judgment in a case now p r o c e e d i n g

through the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) could prove to be a landmark in the move-ment of West Indians through each other’s countries.

Shanique Myrie, a Jamaican, alleges that on 14 March 2011, (then 22 years old), she was originally allowed entry into Barbados at Grantley Adams Inter-national Airport for a month when her passport was stamped, but two hours later she was taken by a female immi-gration officer to a bathroom where she was allegedly “finger raped”, abused with foul language, threatened and then denied entry into Barbados.

The government of Barbados is the defendant in the case. It has been ac-cused of violating its obligations under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (the CARICOM Treaty) and a CARI-COM Heads of Government decision in 2007. According to Myrie’s lawyers, denial of her right of entry was “un-justifiable, arbitrary and thus led to discrimination.”

The full trial will begin next month pitting the Barbados government, as defendant, against both Myrie and the Government of Jamaica which has in-tervened alongside her in the case. Three other Jamaican women have of-fered themselves as witnesses, saying that they too have been victims of Bar-bados immigration officials.

Jamaica’s argument is that its sub-stantial legal interests in the case lies in the circumstance that any judgment

rendered will estab-lish a binding prece-dent for all CARICOM member states. In a preliminary hearing, in October 2012, the CCJ agreed.

Prior to the case go-ing before the CCJ in April 2012, the Barbados government said that it had conducted its own inquiry and it up-held the denial of the Immigration of-ficer that any cavity search had taken place.

However, the Barbados govern-ment’s lawyers admitted to the CCJ hearing that the case was “arguable”. Hence, it is proceeding.

Since the establishment of CARI-COM in 1973, hundreds of CARICOM nationals have complained of discrimi-nation against them by immigration officials at the point of entry of sever-al Caribbean countries. Nationals of Guyana and Jamaica especially have complained – some, even when they are travelling on Canadian, US and Eu-ropean Union passports. There have also been ‘expulsions’ of many CARI-COM nationals, deemed to be illegal, from a few countries without a legal process.

All of this has raised questions about the value and relevance of the Carib-bean Community and Common mar-ket (CARICOM) to the citizens of its 15 member countries. Indeed, these events have created resentment and an inclination to dismiss CARICOM as anything but a government ‘talking shop’. The governments themselves do little to address the problem, which

if a solution is not found, will under-mine CARICOM severely.

Just recently, on 28 January, the high-ly-regarded, former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P J Patterson publicly asked at a meeting of Rotary in Guyana: “What purpose does the CARICOM Passport serve if travelling within the Region is still like an obstacle race”?

The CARICOM passport was intro-duced by member governments in 2009 although the Bahamas and Haiti have not done so, and Monsterrat is prohib-ited from doing so because it remains a British colony. However, the passport itself does not ease entry into the coun-tries of CARICOM. While the word ‘Caricom’ is emblazoned on its cover, it is still a passport of the nation that is-sued it; it does not relieve the holder of the rigorous attention of immigration officers at CARICOM ports, nor does it, by itself, facilitate ease of entry.

The problem, of course, goes far be-yond a CARICOM passport. It really strikes at the heart of what a ‘Commu-nity’ is about. In the European Union (EU) the 27 member states of the Com-munity have EU passports but they also have entrenched in their commu-nity law, freedom of movement of their peoples to move, reside, work and study in each other’s countries

CARICOM governments will not overcome the problem of discrimina-tion against CARICOM nationals at ports of entry until they deal with the more fundamental issue of perfect-ing the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) which provides for the free movement of goods, servic-es and capital throughout the signa-

tory member states (Bahamas is not a signatory). Once all the legislative provisions are put in place, the free movement of people is a natural conse-quence – just as it is in the EU, the fed-eration of the United States of America, and the federation of Canada.

Rights of establishment and arrange-ments for transfer of social security and medical benefits between CARI-COM countries – all these have to be put in place before complete freedom of movement can take place. The prob-lem is that little or no progress is being made by governments to perfect the CSME.

The majority of CARICOM citizens would understand the need for the legislative and other requirements be-fore there can be full freedom of move-ment. What they will not understand, however, is why should their place of birth in a CARICOM country, elicit un-friendliness and hostility? CARICOM citizens also know that a few of their country people are up to unacceptable activity of one sort or another, but in today’s age of advance passenger in-formation and high-tech screening of bags, why can’t such persons be identi-fied and dealt with separately?

The Shanique Myrie case before the CCJ will help to determine the obli-gations of CARICOM member gov-ernments to the people of CARICOM countries who travel to – or through – other CARICOM States. The case is be-ing watched by interested eyes and the judgment cautiously awaited.(The writer is a Consultant, former senior Carib-bean Ambassador and now Visiting Fellow, Lon-don University)

CARIBBEAN GRAPHICPAGE 6

Sir Ronald

Sanders

Tony Mc

Publisher/Editor: Tony McWattEditorial Consultant : Malcolm CliffeContributors: Sandra Ann Baptiste, Beverly Brown, Akua Hinds, Christine Reid, Sir Ronald Sanders,Legal: Oumarally and BaboolalGraphic Design: Susan Zelinski

618 Strouds Lane, Pickering, ON L1V 4S9 • Tel: 905.831-4402 • Fax: 416.292.2943 • Email: [email protected] • www.caribbeangraphic.ca

February 6, 2013

CARICOM Passport –An Obstacle Race

Kelly’s McCarthy’s Young Life: An Inspiration To Us All!

CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 7February 6, 2013

Barbados BeatBarbados Beat

BRIDGETOWN, Times are tough for Barbadian fisherfolk and for those who rely on the fishing industry to make a living. From captains to car-penters, many are feeling the pinch of reduced fish stocks in local waters.

Nester McDonald Yarde has been painting fishing vessels for more than 30 years. Operating from the Berinda Cox Fish Market in Oistins, he said the lack of fish resulted in boat owners be-ing less inclined to pay for his services as they had less money to spend.

Things did not look quite so bright for boat owner Glyne Lovell. An own-er for around 35 years, he lamented the high costs of operating a vessel.

“The hardest part is the amount of money we have to pay a crane to take in and carry out our boats – $1 880,” he said.

Lovell said Government was do-ing nothing to ease the problem and criticised both the previous Barbados Labour Party administration and the Democratic Labour Party for leaving an imported crane idle at Fisheries [in

Bridgetown] for more than five years. He said Government granted $2 000 to boat owners but this was far from enough. However, he said he could not blame Government as it had always been this way.

In addition, he said he had spent a further $16 000 in repairs and would need $5 500 for operational expenses.

Boat captain Nicholas Squires com-plained there were too many people making suggestions and changes to the fishing industry who had no idea what they were doing. He said locals should be more involved.

At Silver Sands Beach, fishermen said the fish were not biting any hard-er either. Renald Price said the intakes were way down.

“I went out three weeks ago and only catch about 4 000 pounds of flying fish. That is low because normally I could catch 30 000 pounds,” he said, adding that his only choice was to keep his head above water. Price said he was a diver, boat captain and more, but work was slow.

BRIDGETOWN, The two main po-litical parties here have nominated candidates to contest the 30 seats in the February 21 general elections ahead of the official Nomination day on Febru-ary 6.

In the unprecedented move, not wit-nessed before in Caribbean politics, the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) led by former prime minis-ter Owen Arthur marched to the Trea-sury Building on January 31 to pay the required US$125 per candidate.

Not to be outdone, the ruling Dem-ocratic Labour Party (DLP) of Prime Minister Freundel Stuart nominated their candidates for the polls, the fol-lowing day. DLP spokesman, Ronald Jones told reporters the party would not engaged in any grand public dis-play, an apparent reference to the op-

position party.Arthur told supporters, who had

marched with the BLP candidates to register for the poll that the BLP would make no unrealistic promises on the campaign trail.

The BLP was scheduled to launch its campaign on February 2 and Arthur said that the party’s manifesto has been completed.

“We have seen a deterioration in the quality of our life and Barbados has retrogressed socially, we want to change that,” he said.

In the 2008 election, the DLP, which had been in opposition since 1994, won 20 of the 30 seats, defeating the BLP under Arthur’s leadership. The DLP, won 53.21 per cent of the popu-lar votes, while the BLP received 46.52 per cent.

BRIDGETOWN, The Barbados Light & Power (BL&P) Company Lim-ited has called on both political parties to stop placing posters and billboards on to utility poles citing safety con-cerns. The company has posted letters to the constituency offices of each par-ty to alert them to the request.

In a statement the BL&P said the practice had implications for the safety of linesmen who work on the poles.

“We acknowledge that it is a gen-eral election period but we are asking party supporters to refrain from plac-ing posters and billboards on the util-ity poles. If this has already been done, please remove the staples and nails when the posters are removed” said Corporate communications adminis-trator Jackie Marshall-Clarke in the statement.

“It is a matter of safety for us. The staples and nails pose a serious dan-ger to linesmen in their operations, if required to climb poles,” Marshall-

Clarke added. And she noted that in accordance with the Town And Coun-try Planning Act Cap 240, permission from the Chief Town Planner was re-quired in order to place campaign ma-terial in this manner.

Marshall-Clarke said that some post-ers obscured identification numbers on the pole and in the event of an emer-gency, BL&P crews need to be able to identify pole numbers.

In an interview with local media on why the notice was necessary as it was customary during general elections to place electioneering material on utility poles, Marshall-Clarke said the com-pany’s concern was safety first, not only for people but for the workmen who had to climb the poles as well.

Marshall-Clarke, however ,insisted that nails and staples hinder the spurs [on linesmen’s boots] from gripping the pole, making it difficult for the crews to climb and do their work, and they were also a safety hazard.

BRIDGETOWN, A masked man de-scribed as fast and “tricky” has been terrorizing residents of Marley Vale, St Philip, for the past three weeks.

Residents told the Reporters that the tall man who wears black clothing with a hood over his head has been pulling at their doors and windows late at night and even hiding in their cellars.

It is also reported that he snatched a woman’s handbag.

The situation has the community in an uproar – women are unable to sleep at night and the men hold vigils, hop-ing to capture the elusive intruder.

More than anyone else, Janice Best, who lives with her two young chil-dren, has seen the masked assailant, who constantly targets her house.

Rough Seas For Fisherfolk

Living In Fear

BLP’s Election Pole Position

Election Candidates Nominated

Barbados Making British Press Headlines

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados has made headlines in England again – and for all the wrong reasons. A vis-iting British couple, Professor James Bridges and his wife Olga, were bru-tally attacked by a knife-wielding in-truder within minutes of arriving at their rented villa in the island’s north-western parish of St Peter.

Professor Bridges, who is Chairman of the European Commission’s Com-mittee on Emerging and Newly Iden-tified Health Risks, was stabbed three times while his wife suffered seven stab wounds, including a punctured spleen and diaphragm, according to The Telegraph. The Daily Mail added that Dr Olga Bridges also sustained a fractured rib in the carnage. Dr Bridg-es, 62, underwent emergency sur-gery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Bridgetown where she was later said to be in a stable condition.

Speaking from the hospital, the 72-year-old professor described the

“sheer terror” of being attacked soon after they arrived at the luxury West Coast beachfront villa where they had been scheduled to stay for two weeks. Professor Bridges, who is one of the UK’s leading experts on toxicology, went on to say that as he and his wife lay wounded, the masked intruder de-manded to know where their money was.

After searching their bedroom for cash, the attacker returned and con-tinued to stab them.The couple, from Guildford in Surrey, had reported-ly only been in the villa for about 40 minutes when the savage attack took place on the evening of January 25.

A spokesman for the Royal Barba-dos Police Force said a local man was being questioned over the attack, but declined to give any further details. The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that a British couple had been attacked in Barbados and consular assistance had been offered.


EC ReviewEC Review

February 6, 2013

St Kitts Making Economic Progress

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, All is not reported to be well in the political cam-paign of the incumbent National Dem-ocratic (NDC) in Grenada, which is seeking re-election at polls scheduled for February 19.

“The campaign is said to have differ-ent pulls, with only the weekend rallies having a semblance of a national cam-paign,” Caribupdate Weekly reported.

“Insiders speak of a largely disjoint-ed national campaign effort, with a lot of emphasis placed by Nazim Burke’s allies in ensuring that he survives in St George’s North East,” the paper added.

Burke, finance minister and deputy to Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, easily won St George’s North in the

party’s 11 – 4 general election victory in 2008. However, according to Caribup-date Weekly, “At least one independent poll shows he (Burke) is very vulner-able this time”.

The paper also reported on the si-lence in the NDC’s campaign of the party’s public relations officer, Glen Noel, who is also the government’s minister of information and national mobilization. Noel has attended NDC rallies but sits in the back row, “with apparently little to do about the direc-tion of the meetings,” the Caribupdate Weekly report said.

“Noel is considered a Tillman Thom-as loyalist, but the prime minister him-self has had little direct influence on the campaign.”

ST’JOHN’S, Antigua, Starting Feb-ruary 18, 23 beauties from around the region will take part in the first sea-son of Caribbean’s Next Top Model. Antigua’s very own Xiea Hull will be representing the nation in the highly-anticipated television show, hosted by Miss Universe 1998 Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad and Tobago.

The show is affiliated with the Tyra Banks America’s Next Top Model brand; Caribbean’s Next Top Model, which was shot in Trinidad & Tobago and will run for 11 episodes; it will be aired on WSEE TV in Puerto Rico, One Caribbean Television and CaribVision (CTV’s channel 451) during primetime on Mondays, with repeat airings on Saturdays.

The show will be judged by Fitzwil-liam (dubbed “the face”) as well as in-ternational photographer Pedro Vir-gil (the eye), and Richard Young (the mind).

Nineteen-year-old Xiea, who has been modelling for the past three years, discovered her passion while spending

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Taiwan’s For-eign Minister David Lin recently con-cluded a two-day visit to St Lucia.

Lin, who was met on arrival by For-eign Minister Alva Baptiste, also in-spected several public construction projects funded by Taiwan prior to his before his departure, according to a statement issued by the Taiwanese Embassy here.

The statement said that Lin thanked St. Lucia, one of Taiwan’s 23 diplomat-ic allies, for support of his country’s ef-forts to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Conven-

tion on Climate Change.Baptiste thanked Taiwan for its assis-

tance with St. Lucia’s development in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, telecommunications, health services, education and energy.

The previous St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) government had enjoyed diplo-matic relations with China, which re-gards Taiwan as a renegade province, and there had been fears that Castries, which broke off relations with Beijing six years ago, would have re-estab-lished links with China after the Ken-ny Anthony administration returned to power in 2011.

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Visits St Lucia

Antiguan Vies For Caribbean Top Model Title

her summer break at a pool in Jolly Harbour Resort. While going through some pictures she took with friends many of them told her how well she photographed.

Shortly after, while walking in St John’s she was approached by one of the island’s top fashion designers who inquired if she was a model and then offered her a job in a fashion show. She attended the Antigua Girls’ High School before joining the staff as the Visual Arts teacher. Outside of model-ling she paints and dances and writes novels.

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, A just con-cluded International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to St Kitts and Nevis yields a positive assessment of the twin-island federation’s progress.

The mission, led by George Tsibouris visited over January 21 to 29, was the fifth review of the program under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) ap-proved by the Fund’s Executive Board on July 27, 2011.

At the conclusion of the mission Tsi-bouris said, despite a difficult econom-ic environment, the overall fiscal posi-tion through end-September 2012 was stronger than expected due to buoyant non tax revenue and lower-than-ex-pected capital outlays.

However, he also stated that the es-timate of economic growth for 2012 has been revised downwards from -0.7 to -0.9 percent, reflecting a decline in tourism in the third quarter. Still the IMF representative said they expected a pick-up in tourism and the launching of several construction projects in 2013 were expected to contribute to a recov-ery in activity, with economic growth projected at nearly 2 percent. Inflation has eased to 0.3 percent at end-2012.

He added that discussions with the authorities had been positive, and the IMF was fully committed to working with them as they proceed with the fi-nalization of the 2013 budget and sup-portive policies.

Trouble In The NDC Camp

BASSETTERE, St. Kitts, Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor on Janu-ary 31 announced his resignation from the Cabinet with immediate effect, cit-ing recent developments as his reasons for stepping aside. Condor’s resigna-tion was submitted less than a week af-ter Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas fired a Senior Government Minister Dr. Timothy Harris.

In a radio and television broadcast on January 25, Dr. Douglas said Har-ris, who is also the Chairman of the ruling St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), had been dismissed because of his opposition to two recent govern-ment-sponsored legislation, including one to increase the number of senators in the National Assembly.

On January 29, during his radio pro-gramme “Ask the Prime Minister”, Dr. Douglas had warned that he would not tolerate Cabinet ministers not support-ing the government’s policies and also that the ruling party would take strong objection to people elected to the par-liament on its slate and then seeking to undermine it.

While no one was named it was ap-parent he was referring to Timothy and Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor, who in recent months openly opposed government policies, including forcing a postponement of the presentation of the national budget last month.

Condor served for more than 20 years as a parliamentarian and as a government minister for over 17 years.


ST JOHNS, Antigua, The World Trade Organization (WTO) has paved the way for Antigua and Barbuda to suspend certain concessions and obli-gations it has under international law to the United States in respect of intel-lectual property rights.

In a move hotly contested by the United States government, the Anti-gua government is threatening its big neighbour to the north that it will sus-pend its copyrights and patents on the twin island state, paving the way for unlicensed use of US intellectual property.

This salvo comes is another effort in the long-running battle by Antigua to get the US to either comply with the WTO’s 2005 rulings in Antigua’s fa-vour in its internet gambling dispute, or to negotiate a fair and reasonable so-

lution with the Antiguan government. In 2007, the WTO gave Antigua lee-

way to force America’s hand by giv-ing the Caribbean nation the right to waive intellectual property rights pro-tections on some US$21 million worth of US goods annually, a fraction of the US$3.44 billion the island requested.

A strong statement by the United States Trade Representative’s office called Antigua’s move to enforce this decision: “unwise”.

However, Antigua argues that the remedy is expressly provided for un-der WTO law and, contrary to what the US has publicly stated, will not constitute “piracy” or theft of intellec-tual property rights, but a lawful sus-pension of intellectual property rights, conforming to the judgment of the rel-evant WTO tribunal.

ST’JOHN’S, Antigua- Winston Der-rick, the voice of the people, is no more. Derrick died at 2 am, on Saturday Feb-ruary 2, leaving a nation in mourning. The 62-year-old, self-described “fooley boy from Ovals” was the chairman and co-founder of OBSERVER Publications Limited. He had hosted the ground-breaking radio programme Voice of the People for the last 12 years.

News of his passing spread through-out Antigua & Barbuda and abroad as the country woke.

Condolences flooded OBSERVER’s phones, website and fan page from grieving and bewildered people from all strata of society, including dignitar-ies, friends and the man on the street. Prime Minster Baldwin Spencer ex-pressed his sympathies on behalf of the government,

Leader of the opposition, Gaston

Browne, said the chairman gave a voice to the voiceless.

“Winston Derrick will certainly be greatly missed, there is no doubt that he provided many individuals in this country with a voice; many individu-als, including politicians, who were voiceless.

“I would say, in my case, in some instances where I found myself rela-tively voiceless, that OBSERVER Me-dia Group gave me a voice and I am eternally grateful to Winston Derrick,” the opposition leader said.

His close friend and a company foun-dation member, Selvyn Walter, simply characterised his longtime friend, say-ing, “The man, Winston Derrick, was fantastic.”

Derrick started OBSERVER Media in 1993 with his brother, Samuel “Fergie” Derrick—who died in 2003—with a

newsletter distributed via fax. In 1996, with a small staff, the brothers expand-ed into broadcast media.

On the first day of production, po-lice raided the premises, seizing all the equipment needed to operate. After a five-year battle to ensure OBSERVER Radio would be a reality, the Privy Council decided in the Derrick’s fa-vour—allowing the radio operations to be reborn in 2001.

The Derrick brothers then acquired controlling interest in Antigua Print-ing and Publishing Ltd, but untenable economic sanctions levied against OB-SERVER Publications Ltd by the Anti-gua Labour Party (ALP) regime caused the directors to relinquish their shares to employees.

Other business ventures include forming OBSERVER cellular Ltd, which, during its first year of opera-

Winston Derrick Passes

St Kitts’ Deputy PM Resigns

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, In the wake of the sudden death of OBSERVER Publi-cations Ltd Chairman Winston Derrick, condolences and tributes have come pouring in from many segments of so-ciety, including several dignitaries.

Governor General Dame Louise Lake Tack said when she received news of his passing via telephone early morn-ing on February 2, she never thought the news would be “so very sad.”

“It seems like yesterday I sat next to Winston in the Privy Council in Lon-don,” she said.

“When he realised he won his case he turned to me and said, ‘I had no doubt whatsoever that we would win, but this thing has left me broke,’ which made me smile.”

Dame Louise referred to Observer Publications Ltd v Campbell Matthew et al, the Privy Council case that com-pelled the then government to provide OBSERVER Radio with a broadcast licence.

Minister of Finance Harold Lovell, who served also as junior counsel, said he worked very closely with Derrick on the case.

“Winston is somebody who I would say is a lawyer who never bothered to

qualify as a lawyer,” Lovell said.“In particular, he had an excellent

constitutional mind. He thought in terms of the rights of the citizens and he understood implicitly what it was to stand up for those rights, and to ensure that the state did not encroach on those rights further than was justifiable.”

Lovell added that he would remem-ber Derrick as one who was never shy about speaking his mind.

“Winston was never a person who was afraid to express his opinion. Whether you were his friend or not, he would disagree, but disagree agree-ably,” the finance minister said.

Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer de-scribed Derrick as a patriot and said the whole nation will be mourning to have learned of his untimely passing.

“I think it is important for us to make sure that his legacy and that of the OB-SERVER Group will remain with us and that we will appreciate the role that Winston would have played in the development of Antigua & Barbuda,” Spencer said.

“He was truly an Antiguan & Barbu-dan. We have had our disagreements, but this in no way diminishes the sig-nificance of his role in Antigua & Bar-

Tributes Pour In For Fallen Observer Chairman

tion, brought down mobile phone rates by more than 40 per cent. The control-ling interests in the cellular company were subsequently sold to AT&T in 2002.

Winston Derrick leaves to mourn his family, friends and his OBSERV-ER Publications family. The chairman would have been 63 on February 27.

buda and beyond.”Providing a voice to the voiceless

was how Leader of the Opposition Antigua Labour Party (ALP) Gaston Browne described the late OBSERVER chairman.

“There is no doubt that he provided many individuals in this country with a voice, many individuals, includ-ing politicians, who were voiceless,” Browne said.

“I can say, too, in my case, in some instances, where I found myself rela-tively voiceless that OBSERVER Media Group gave me a voice and I am eter-nally grateful to Winston Derrick.”

The Speaker of the House of Rep-resentatives D Gisele Isaac shared Browne’s sentiments.

“I want to say how much he has changed the landscape of media and media freedom in Antigua & Barbuda. I think that is a debt we can never re-pay,” she said.

“I don’t even think we recognise yet the significance of what he has done with OBSERVER Radio in particular.”

Early Saturday morning, on Feb-ruary 2, news of Derrick’s passing at around 2 am, quickly spread through-out the country prompting an ava-lanche of tributes.

Antigua Gets Go Ahead


Guyana DigestGuyana Digest

February 6, 2013

New Hotel Chain Comes to Guyana

GEORGETOWN, Choice Hotels In-ternational will debut its upscale As-cend Hotel Collection in Guyana early this year. The global lodging company has announced that its construction of a boutique 25-room member hotel in central Georgetown is advancing well.

The new Ascend Hotel Collection member hotel, to be called The Opus, will be located within close proximity to several global agencies and is only a few blocks from the lively downtown shopping district.

The new Guyana hotel will feature 23 standard guest rooms, two executive rooms (featuring wooded floors and jetted tubs), restaurant and bar, small meeting room facilities, free parking, quality linens, air conditioned rooms, free cable television, Wi-Fi and compli-mentary breakfast.

Local entrepreneur Wilfred Brand-ford, who owns the new hotel, believes the relationship with Choice Hotels International is not only the right fit

for his company, but will also help elevate Guyana’s image in the global marketplace.

Highlighting the advantage of a small property belonging to a global brand, Brandford added the hotel will cater to these and other market seg-ments by leveraging the robust mar-keting and reservations systems of Choice Hotels as well as Choice Privi-leges, an industry-leading guest loyal-ty program.

Ascend member hotels are allowed to retain their independent identity and continue to deliver superior guest service, while receiving the benefits of a growing membership program with a leading lodging company, includ-ing shepherding support in marketing, reservations and operations.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. franchises approximately 6,200 hotels, representing more than 495,000 rooms, in the United States and more than 30 other countries and territories.

GEORGETOWN, A toddler died at the Georgetown Public Hospital On February 1 after she accidentally fell down the stairs at her home at Bux-ton, East Coast Demerara. Dead is one-year-old Treverlyn Thomas, of Lot 34 Middle Walk, Buxton.

When reporters visited the infant’s home, her mother Dawn Leitch related that about 7.30 am, she and the toddler were in the living room.

“I just done feed she and she jump out me hand and run with a force and push open the back door… Then I hear the tumbling down the step. When I go outside, she been pon de ground cry-ing,” Leitch said.

Leitch said she picked up her daugh-ter and rushed her to the hospital where she was taken into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

She said the child responded to her name everytime it was called during the trip to the hospital and in the emer-gency room.

After some hours, doctors notified her that the infant had sustained a frac-tured skull and her brain was bleeding heavily.

“The doctor come out and told me that she got a 50/50 chance of surviv-

Toddler Dies From Fall

ing… When I go in the room I see they had a tube in she lungs because she couldn’t breathe on she own,” Leitch lamented.

The grieving mother stated that at about 2.30 pm, a doctor came out and related to her that her daughter had died.

The mother said Treverlyn, who has a twin brother, was a bold child.

“Oh my little Tinesha [the name Treverlyn was called] she like see them breeze blow pon dem tree and she does mimic them animals in the com-munity. Oh yuh gone and left meh! Why?” Leitch cried

GEORGETOWN, Russia has can-celled the remaining debt incurred 28 years ago when Guyana purchased two fuel-guzzling military helicop-ters from the former Soviet Union, the two countries have announced. Rus-sia said it cancelled the remaining US$277,490.24 or G$56.7 million which had been part of two loans amounting to US$9,409,044.71 that had been used to purchase two helicopters for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

The two MI-8 military choppers were bought in 1984 and parked in 1988 because they had been consum-ing large amounts of fuel. Their shells were removed from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in February 2007 and buried in a nearby sand pit.

GEORGETOWN, On February 3 two persons became Guyana’s latest road fatalities as a result of a collision between a city-bound minibus and a Titan on the Mon Repos Public Road, East Coast Demerara. Those who suc-cumbed to their injuries are 39-year old Shondel Yaw and the minibus driver 42-year old Godfrey Daniels

Eyewitness Alexis Boyer, who was in a car behind the bus, told reporters that the Titan exited Mon Repos North from a cross-street and swerved on the southern lane of the public road to head east.

Boyer said the Titan,GLL 6514, slammed head on into the bus, BMM 8260, which was travelling at a mod-erate speed. The accident occured around 8:30 PM. The 17 others in-

Russian Debt Cancelled

2 Dead, 17 Injured in Mon Repos Road Accident

jured included Wayne Reynolds,50, of 5 Duncan Street, Campbelville; Dully Singh, 27, of Vreed-en-Hoop; Nigel Roach, 29, of Liliendaal; Debra Ben-nett,46, of Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara; Kristel Seeram,22, of Chel-sea Park; Marcel Fitzalbert,33, of Fes-tival City and Nabaclis; Janelle Nich-ols,31, of Alberttown; Kristel Clark,14, and Nurse Savitri Mohandas who was going to work at the Georgetown Pub-lic Hospital Corporation

The left leg of one of the men was al-most dismembered. The bus originat-ed its journey from Anns Grove, East Coast Demerara.

The money, according to the two countries, would be used to to assist Guyana in financing projects in the areas of poverty reduction, environ-mental protection as well as economic development.

The cancelled debt originated from two loans contracted on October 23, 1984 and December 24, 1984 between the now defunct Guyana National Co-operative Bank (GNCB) on behalf of the Guyana government and “AVIA-EXPORT”, a Russian Foreign Trade Agency.


GEORGETOWN, This year the gov-ernment will set out to revise the leg-islation which governs weddings in Guyana, a move aimed at promoting wedding tourism in the country. Act-ing Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali speak-ing at the launch of Wedding Expo

Acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali made this announcement at the Janu-ary 28 launching of the fifth annual Wedding Expo, at Duke Lodge. The minister stated that one of the major setbacks remains the outdated legisla-tion overriding the time in which one can be registered and licenced to get marry. He posited that Guyana’s tour-ism product portfolio needs to be di-versified and that weddings can play a key role in doing so. He explained that Guyana can capitalise on numerous venues and infrastructure as well as the large diaspora overseas who spend large sums on weddings.

The minister stated that though Wed-ding Expo in its budding phase, it has immense potential to contribute to the tourism product in the country. The tourism minister recognised the im-pact the event has on the economy. He disclosed that the Tourism Ministry, the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana will work with the Wedding Expo Committee to train persons to be-come professional event planners.

Meanwhile, Roraima Airways Chief Executive Officer Captain Gerry Gou-

veia noted that Wedding Expo is seek-ing to promote wedding tourism in the country. He stated that there is a need for Guyana to be marketed as a wed-ding destination, and that this is not being done. Gouveia said the chang-ing of the legislation is important to ensure the country is user-friendly to people who want to come to the coun-try to get to married, rather then going to a different countries. He highlighted that this year the Wedding Expo will be bigger and better.

Georgetown Chambers of Com-merce President Clinton Urling, who was also present at the launch, stated that Wedding Expo is not only contrib-uting to the economy, but to the overall social development of the country.

Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Mobile Sales Coordinator Alli-son Dundas said the reason the compa-ny remains committed to sponsoring the event is because it sees it as great opportunity to support and promote small businesses in Guyana.

Couples have been invited to apply for the “Race to the Altar” to be se-lected as the lucky wedding couple to have a sponsored wedding at wedding expo on April 6.

Applications will be closed on Feb-ruary 7. This year, persons will have to pay an entrance fee of $500 to attend the event.

The Wedding Expo will be held from April 5 to 7, at Duke Lodge.

Wedding Expo Launched

GEORGETOWN, George McDon-ald has been appointed Co-Managing Director/Marketing Director of Banks DIH Limited as of January 19, 2013. The move announced in a January 30 Banks DIH press release would effec-tively make him the understudy of long-serving Chairman and Managing Director, Clifford Reis. Prior to the an-nouncement Reis had been Chairman and Managing Director.

According to the release, the decision was made at the January 18th monthly statutory meeting of Banks DIH. The company’s Annual General Meeting was held the following day.

The release said that McDonald joined the staff of Banks DIH Ltd on October 1, 1972 as a clerk within the brewery. Within four years of his em-ployment, he was granted a company scholarship to pursue a degree in eco-nomics at the University of Guyana. Upon his graduation, he was trans-ferred to the Sales Department in 1981 as Sales Manager: Soft Drinks. He was confirmed as Sales Manager in 1983. In 1991, McDonald was elevated to the post of General Marketing Manager which he held until 1995 when he was confirmed in the position of Marketing Executive.

The release said that in 1997, McDon-

New Managing Director For Banks DIH

ald was chosen to attend the Western Executive Programme at the Univer-sity of Western Ontario, Canada and upon resuming duties he was appoint-ed Marketing Director which position he held until his confirmation by the Board of Directors as Assistant Man-aging Director/Marketing Director on April 29, 2010.

The Board of Directors congratulat-ed him on his appointment and wished him a long and successful tenure.

According to its annual report for 2012, Banks DIH Limited Group re-corded a profit before tax of $4.938 bil-lion, a 22 percent increase over the tak-ings of 2011 which was $4.036 billion.

Profit after tax for the Group was re-corded at $2.776 billion up from $2.298 billion, an increase of $478 million or 21 percent. Chairman Reis in his report in the annual report said that for the first time in its history the company achieved profit before tax in excess of $3.5 billion and profit after tax of $2.5 billion.

GEORGETOWN, Digicel Guyana has announced that six lucky custom-ers will win $1M each in the company’s sixth anniversary promotion dubbed “EZ cash”. In addition 60 Digicel cus-tomers will win $600 credit daily for six weeks.

This announcement was made by Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Jacque-line James at a February 1 press con-ference held at the company’s head-quarters in Fort and Barrack Streets, Kingston, Georgetown.

James said: “Digicel is delighted to launch this six-week promotion which gives customers a chance to win big.”

Digicel’s “EZ cash” promotion be-gins on February 4 and will end on March 17 and during this period Digi-cel will also visit several communities across Guyana to engage customers in its sixth anniversary celebrations.

James said: “On February 14 we will celebrate six years of service in Guy-ana and we want to make it special for our customers. Thousands of custom-ers will win a prize in the anniversary promotion. Persons can qualify for “EZ cash” by simply topping up with $600 or more.”

James added that Digicel will also host several events countrywide in celebration of its significant milestone

and this will include an anniversary luncheon for 12 loyal Digicel custom-ers and their guests.

She noted that there will also be special treats for customers, who visit Digicel stores in February and for the next six weeks; customers can expect quite a few prizes and surprises as they seek to reward customers for choos-ing Digicel as their preferred mobile network.

The Head of Marketing, Jacqueline James told reporters that six years ago they started business in Guyana where they offered fantastic services to cus-tomers and today it is no different as she listed the calendar of events for the month of February in observance of their anniversary.

She stated that Digicel will also launch their Mashramani Band and a team form the cellular giant will be on the road on February 4 where they will be engaged in community activities for their anniversary.

At the February 1 press conference Digicel Guyana’s sixth anniversary jingle was played for the first time for the media and other senior officials of Digicel including its Chief Executive Officer, Gregory Dean and Sponsor-ship and Events Manager, Gavin Hope among others.

Digicel Launches Million Dollar Promotion

Tel: 905.831-4402 Email: [email protected]

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Jamaica YardJamaica Yard

February 6, 2013

KINGSTON, The gruesome dis-covery of the body of a 14-year-old girl wrapped in a sheet on the side of a road in Kingston 11; the killing of a special constable by gunmen dressed in police garb along Grange Lange in St Catherine; and the brazen attack on a businessman in the upper St Andrew community of Temple Hall kept de-tectives in the Corporate Area and St Catherine busy between late Tuesday January 29 and early January 30.

The slender, badly bruised body of Shariefa Saddler, who hailed from Joshua Edwards Avenue in Olympic Gardens, was dumped on Lothiam Av-enue — which is in close proximity to where she lived — by men in a motor car shortly after 11:00 am. The teen is believed to have been abducted while on her way to classes at the Haile Se-lassie High School earlier in the morn-ing. The body was still clad in the Haile Selassie uniform she had left home in with a men’s tie knotted around her neck.

Speculation that Shariefa may have been raped remains unsupported by the cops who say it’s too early to tell.

“Police are waiting on [the results of the] post-mortem before they disclose additional details in the case,” said one policeman on the scene.

Superintendent Hewitt was accom-panied to the area by several senior officers, including Assistant Commis-sioner of Police George Quallo. The po-lice search of the area led to the discov-ery of a bag belonging to the girl in a nearby gully, some metres away from where her body was found lying face down.

The killing and the dumping of the body in broad daylight left residents in shock.

Shariefa’s killing happened hours af-ter Special Constable Duan Peart died from multiple gunshot wounds sus-tained while on his way to his home in Portmore, St Catherine. His attack-ers were said to have been dressed in uniforms similar to those worn by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. He became the second mem-ber of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF) to have died at the hands of gunmen in a week. Peart’s killing has been condemned by Police Com-missioner Owen Ellington and ISCF Commandant James Golding.

Golding, meanwhile, said ISCF members remained “committed to the cause of policing in a professional manner, despite this unprecedented attack on ISCF members by lawless gunmen”.

The St Andrew North Police said that they were following several leads in the murder of businessman Fabian Latibeaudiere, who was peppered with gunmen’s bullets as he tried to enter his Toyota Prado motor vehicle in the rural St Andrew community of Temple Hall early on the morning of January 30. The incident triggered shock and fear among residents in the area.

Police reports were that the gunmen then fled the scene by car and Latibe-audiere was rushed to the Medical As-sociates Hospital in St Andrew where he was pronounced dead. The cops could not confirm claims that a firearm and a large sum of cash were stolen from the victim.

Schoolgirl Amongst 3 Brutally Murdered

KINGSTON, Some 1,250 persons with specific eye conditions, benefit-ted from 1,410 procedures conducted under the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care pro-gramme during 2012. Coordinator of the programme, Gregory Thomas, in an interview with JIS News also in-formed that over 16,000 consultations took place last year. The programme, which seeks to help reduce prevent-able blindness in adults, evolved from the five-year Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Project, which previously saw persons being screened for eye conditions in Ja-maica and sent to Cuba for treatment.

Launched in January 2010, the pro-gramme offers surgical treatment for people suffering from three specific conditions: Cataracts, Diabetic Reti-nopathy (damage to the retina caused by complications of diabetes melli-tus) and Pterygium (a non-cancerous fleshy growth, usually on the surface of the eye) free of cost.

Thomas further noted that since the programme’s inception, over 46,000 consultations have been done; over 4, 200 surgeries have been performed; and over 3,790 patients have received surgical treatment.

KINGSTON, Jamaica’s top diplo-mat in the United States, Ambassador Stephen Vasciannie, has pointed out that his island’s refugee policy incor-porates reference to international hu-man rights standards and provides a good framework for the treatment of asylum seekers.

“It also provides a model that could be used in some other Caricom states,” Ambassador Vasciannie said in his presentation to an international refu-gee law course staged by the Commit-tee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC recently.

Noting that Jamaica’s refugee policy was formulated in 2009, Ambassador Vasciannie said that the Jamaican ap-proach is based expressly on the 1951 Refugees Convention and the 1967 Protocol to the Refugees Convention.

1,250 Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Treatments

Caricom Modelling Jamaica’s Refugee Policy

Ambassador Vasciannie pointed out that Jamaica’s refugee issues have taken place in the context of regional geopolitics and domestic political is-sues in neighbouring countries, and against the background of resource considerations.

“But in the end, the policy affirms the centrality of law,” he said.

Jamaica became a party to the Ref-ugees Convention in 1964 and to the Protocol to that Convention in 1980. The Convention and Protocol require Jamaica to grant refugee status to all foreigners who establish that they have a “well-founded fear of persecution” on any one of a number of grounds, in-cluding religious belief, political opin-ion or membership of a particular so-cial group.


Cop Killed During Training

KINGSTON, The Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington has ordered that all weapons training be suspend-ed at the Jamaica Police Academy fol-lowing the January 30 death of a po-liceman during a training exercise. Five other members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force were injured dur-ing that incident.

Commissioner Ellington says an internal investigation will be con-ducted by the Inspectorate of the Constabulary.

He says the investigation will seek to determine whether established pro-tocols and Standard Operating Proce-dures were adhered to.

The Independent Commission of In-

vestigations is also probing the shoot-ing incident.

The Police Commissioner says dur-ing the suspension of weapons train-ing, the Tactical Training Village and the range at the police academy will be closed.

He says all established and related Standard Operating Procedures will also be thoroughly reviewed.

In the meantime, Ellington is ap-pealing to police personnel to remain calm during what he describes as a difficult time.

He also reminded them that caution and discipline must always be exer-cised with respect to the care and use of weapons on and off duty.

Grace To Assist Pepper Farmers

KINGSTON, Pepper production in Jamaica should see an improvement, following the signing of an agree-ment between farmers and representa-tives of GraceKennedy Limited at the company’s head offices in downtown Kingston on January 31.

According to the agreement, GraceK-ennedy will supply the pepper farmer with inputs including seedlings, fertil-izer and other chemicals for a one-year period. In return, the farmers will sell their crop to GraceKennedy at a mutu-ally agreed on price. .

Speaking at the signing ceremony, GK Foods CEO Michael Ranglin ex-plained that the initiative was a part-nership aimed at stabilising the local supply of pepper.

Ranglin said that the company need-ed peppers as it was one of the main ingredients used in the production of GraceKennedy’s sauces. However he noted that while the company was an expert at marketing its products, it did not grow peppers.

Agriculture minister Roger Clarke speaking at the signing said that it was necessary for sustained food produc-tion locally as Jamaica currently im-ports US$1 billion in foodstuff annu-ally and “a way must be found to also export food of a similar value”.

General Manager of Grace Agro Pro-cessors Division, Orville Palmer out-lined some of the challenges faced in pepper processing. He said that while the pepper mash produced locally is of a very high quality, second only to Peru, the cost of production was the main challenge. Participating farmers are from the parishes of St Catherine, St Mary and St Elizabeth and those selected had to meet criteria set by GraceKennedy.

These include having at least two years experience in agricultural pro-duction. Also farmers must cultivate land which has adequate drainage and not be flood-prone; and have an ade-quate and reliable supply of irrigation water.

Marley Endorsement For Snoop Dog

KINGSTON, American rapper Snoop Lion has been given a reprieve from the Dogg house by none other than Rohan Marley, son of Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley.

According to celebrity website TMZ, Snoop Lion/Dogg “just got the MAR-LEY FAMILY SEAL OF APPROVAL ... because Bob’s son Rohan tells TMZ the reggae legend would’ve totally sup-ported Snoop’s Rastafarian rebirth”.

The website quotes Rohan as saying that he’s well aware that an original member of the Wailers -- along with the Rastafari Millennium Council -- at-tacked Snoop, claiming the rapper is nothing more than a “Rasta Imposta”.

But Rohan says “those guys have it all wrong,” according to TMZ.

“Our father’s name should not even be mentioned in this issue because like a true Rasta, he would have embraced Snoop’s reincarnation and welcomed the positivity,” Rohan told the website.

“Why condemn a man for his love of Rastafari and Bob Marley?” he asked.

The controversy stems from Snoop Dogg’s name change to Snoop Lion and his claim that he had converted to the Rastafarian faith after a visit to Ja-maica last year.

But legendary reggae musician Bun-

ny Wailer – an original member of the immortal Bob Marley and the Wailers – had a bone to pick with the Dogg, tak-ing issue with Dogg/Lion’s documen-tary “Reincarnated”, which depicts Snoop’s immersion in the Rasta culture as he recorded his first reggae album.

Wailer claims Snoop engaged in “outright fraudulent use of Rastafari Community’s personalities and sym-bolism” and failed to meet “contrac-tual, moral and verbal commitments”.

Snoop Dogg also raised the hackles of leaders of the Rastafari Millennium Council, who are said to have sent him an indignant seven-page letter.

The offended parties reportedly want Dogg to stop using the name Lion and issue a public apology after he pays “the financial and moral sup-port” they claim he promised them. The letter from the Rastafari Millen-nium Council also made it clear to the American rapper that “smoking weed and loving Bob Marley and reggae mu-sic is not what defines the Rastafari In-digenous Culture!” Rohan Marley nev-ertheless took an opposing view.

“We have been cool with Snoop be-fore his transformation and he will continue to have our blessings and support,” he told TMZ.

KINGSTON, Hundreds of fans con-verged on the Plaza Theatre in Cal-gary, Canada last Sunday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Cool Runnings, the hit movie based on the exploits of Jamaica’s bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics in that Canadian city.

The special showing was staged by the Reel Fun Film Festival. It was at-tended by two cast members of the 1993 comedy, Leon Robinson and Doug E Doug, who mingled with fans before the show and signed Calgary Winter Olympics memorabilia.

Cool Runnings Celebrates 20 Years


Trinbago NewsTrinbago NewsGreen SeasoningCurry Powder

Kuchella MangoPolourie Mix

Green SeasoningCurry Powder

Kuchella MangoPolourie Mix

February 6, 2013

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Gynaecologist Dr Sherene Kalloo, who was instrumental in bringing the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations into the country, is “very upset” by the suspension of the programme across primary schools. One week after being launched, the programme has been shelved follow-ing opposition by the Catholic Educa-tion Board of Management (CEBM) to the cervical cancer preventative vac-cine being administered to young girls.

But while the vaccine is still being administered at clinics, Kalloo is blam-ing a lack of proper information for the cessation of the vaccinations at the school level and hopes that with the

She urged parents, students and the members of the denominational boards to get more information from the correct sources and not scare them-selves with incorrect data.

Kalloo said with the proper infor-mation, parents would know that the injection cannot give rise to increased promiscuity. Kalloo added that she and the other doctors met with stake-

holders over the past nine months be-fore going ahead with the implementa-tion of the vaccinations in schools.

She said the CEBM opposition did not remove the vaccination, it simply made it more inaccessible for the same vulnerable section of society most prone to the disease.

But not all denominational boards are against the vaccines.

Head of the Anjuman Sunnat ul Ja-maat Association (ASJA), Yacoob Ali, said they did not have a problem with the vaccination in their schools.

“General secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), Sat Ma-haraj, said he too had no problem with the vaccinations in the schools under the SDMS banner.

The CEBM stated that it was con-cerned that the Ministry of Health “in-tervened into the schools without con-sultation”. Their other issue was that they did not receive any invitation to the sensitisation meetings and they first learned about the vaccinations in the media.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, The long-stand-ing corporate relationship between the soca superstar Machel Montano and bmobile was “suspended” as of Janu-ary 29. No reason was given for the move although there had been calls for Montano to be dropped as a brand am-bassador after he was found guilty on five criminal charges last December.

The surprise move came one day before Montano was scheduled to perform in the company’s January 30 pre-Carnival concert series “Soca in b Square” in Woodford Square, Port of Spain.

Montano, is the defending Groovy and Power Soca Monarch, and is also in the race to retain the Road March title with 2013 hit Float.

In a release, TSTT, bmobile’s parent company, said it had, “at this time, suspended all existing relationships” with Montano. The brief statement reiterated TSTT’s commitment to sup-porting the nation’s culture.

The suspension comes 12 days after a letter from social activist group Fixin’ T&T to TSTT’s board, requesting the company “immediately disassociate” itself with Montano in light of his con-

BMobile Drops Machel

Vaccine Programme Suspended

viction on four offences of criminal as-sault and one charge of using obscene language after a fracas outside the Zen nightclub, Port of Spain in April 2007.

Montano was found guilty on De-cember 10 and was scheduled to be sentenced on January 17, but the hear-ing has been adjourned to February 25.

Planning and Sustainable Develop-ment Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, by whose Ministry Montano was com-missioned to create the Going for Gold album in honour of the country’s 50th anniversary of Independence said his Ministry “will not turn its back on Machel”.

Another of Montano’s sponsors, Ca-ribbean Airlines Ltd, is yet to release an official statement on their position regarding the artiste.

PORT OF SPAIN, Three armed men held up a branch of the Republic Bank in south Trinidad on February 1 and escaped with an undetermined amount of cash, police said. They said the men, armed with a gun and cut-lasses, forced customers to lie on the

ground and ordered the tellers to put the cash in a bag soon after the bank in point Fortin opened for business.

The bandits escaped by forcing a motorist to hand over his new vehicle that was later found abandoned along the south trunk highway.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, CL Financial (CLF) is hoping to raise more than TT$300 million with the private sale of two of the conglomerate’s malls—Val-park Shopping Plaza in Valsayn and Atlantic Plaza in Point Lisas as well as the Holiday Inn Express, its hotel at Trincity.

Local media have been advised that a local conglomerate has also put in a bid to acquire the Long Circular Mall, St James and the Tru Valu chain of su-permarkets. The assets are all owned by Home Construction Ltd (HCL), which is a subsidiary of CLF.

The CLF empire, once owned by former insurance executive Law-rence Duprey, has been under Gov-ernment management since January 2009. The sale of the malls has not been advertised.

Instead CLF, currently chaired by former finance minister Gerald Yet-ming, engaged advisory firm Ernst and Young to invite selected bidders for the assets a few weeks ago. The CLF board was scheduled to meet on February 1

to determine the successful bidders of the assets.

Questioned on whether the sale ap-peared selective and discriminatory, the source admitted: “Of course it was. We wanted to make sure we got the best opportunity to get the best price. For instance, with the sale of Holiday Inn, Ernst and Young went abroad as well as to the local market.

Bidders were reportedly selected based on their interest in the invest-ment market. Among those bidders were the ANSA McAL Group of com-panies, Issa Nicholas Holdings Ltd, the Hadeed Group of Companies, Movi-eTowne’s Derek Chin, Bhagwansing-hs and the Gopaul Group of Compa-nies. At least five companies were said to have put in bids for the Valpark property.

Asked if the sums expected from the sale seemed low for the assets, the source explained that HCL had al-ready done valuations on the proper-ties so they had a fair idea about what they expected.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, In an effort to stymie the brain drain, the government has put various incentives in place to encourage emigrants to return home, Labour Minister Errol McLeod has said. McLeod made the statement on January 28 during his contribution to the Finance Bill 2013 at the House of Representatives, Tower D, Waterfront Centre in Port of Spain.

“One area that requires greater atten-tion in development of our economy is the role of returning citizens who pos-sess skills and competencies in various disciplines,” McLeod said.

“Based on their experiences and their international exposure qualified returning citizens would be instru-mental particularly in contributing to the diversification of our economy,” McLeod said. He said the “wealth of knowledge” that can be obtained from returning skills and competencies would help to propel our economy.

“Greater emphasis must be placed on attracting and retaining such indi-viduals as a means of preventing the brain drain of our economy. A number of people are coming back home and a number more could be encouraged to come back home as the more devel-oped economies struggle to get back on to steadier footing,” he said.

Republic Bank Branch Robbed

Overseas Trinis Urged To Return Home

Malls For Sale

Clause 15 of the Finance Bill 2013 seeks to amend the Customs Act “to support ease of doing business and help to create an environment to help nationals living abroad to return home and set up businesses here and so set about reducing the brain drain with which we are plagued”, McLeod said. “Two major clauses include full relief from motor vehicle tax in some cases and an increase in the value of house-hold effects which may be admitted without tax from $100,000 to $250,000 these significant tax concessions aim to encourage and facilitate the return of citizens who have resided abroad for at least five consecutive years with the recognition of the advantages that these persons may bring to this coun-try such as specialised skills and expe-rience which may have beneficial ef-fects on the local economy,” McLeod said.

Belly Bustas Take 3 CARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 15

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February 6, 2013

A little old lady is walking down the street dragging two large plastic garbage bags behind her.

One of the bags rips and a bunch of $100 notes fall out. A policeman no-tices, approaches her and asks for an explanation as to how she came by so much money.

“I live right next to the soccer stadi-um she explains and everytime there’s a match a whole heap of fans come to

pee through the fence and into my yard. So I decide to stand behind the fence with a cutlass and when they stick their thing through the fence I grab it and say One hundred dollars or I chop it off with this cutlass!”

Okay, says the policeman laughing. “that’s fair enough!” “But by the way, what’s in the other bag?”

“Well officer, says the old lady, not everybody’s been willing to pay!”

A teacher trying to teach good man-ners asked her males students how would they tell a nice young lady who was their dinner date that they have to go to the bathroom.

“Just a minute I have to go pee.” Said one student, to which the Teach-er responded “that would be rude and impolite.” She then turned to lit-

tle Balgobin and asked “What about you, Balgobin, what would you say?”

To which Balgobin responded, “I would say: Darling would you kind-ly excuse me for a minute. I have to go shake hands with a very close and dear friend of mine, whom I am hoping I can introduce to you after dinner.”

A West Indian fellah finds a lamp and rubs it. Out pops a genie.

The genie says, “I’ll give you three wishes, but whatever you wish for your ex-wife will get double.”

First he wishes for a billion dollars. Voila, a billion dollars appears and in the home that used to be his, his ex-wife simultaneously receives two bil-lion dollars.

Then he wishes for ownership of a 100 sq mile habitable island in the

Caribbean. Instantly the deed appears in his

hand and his ex-wife gets title to two islands.

He stops to think of his final wish, as he’s now royally pissed that his ex-wife who made his life such a living hell is getting twice the benefits of his good luck!

“So whatever I get she gets double?” “Yep” says the Genie. “Okay, scare me ‘half’’ to death!

Good Mannered Balgobin

So you have been terminated by your employer but you feel that you were not treated fair-

ly. In what follows I shall outline an alternative option to litigation, which is sometimes economical and expe-dient. The Canadian Labour Code provides an avenue for advancing a claim against an employer.

Under Unjust Dismissal of Part III of the Canada Labour Code, an employee can make a complaint against an employer for unjust dismissal. If you feel that you have been dismissed unjustly, you can file a complaint for unjust dismissal at any Labour Program office. Note this complaint must be filed within 90 days from the date of your dismissal. Why I indicated that this process is economical is that you do not require the services of a lawyer and you can make the complaint yourself.

However, if you retain the service of a lawyer or a representative, that person can also make the com-plaint on your behalf. The complaint will be dealt with by an inspector. The inspector is a neutral par-ty and acts like a mediator to settle the complaint. The type of settlement depends on the parties but can include a monetary award, reinstatement to your job with compensation or reinstatement with-out compensation.

If you are unable to resolve the issues with the in-spector’s help, the employee or your representative can request that the complaint be referred to an ad-judicator. Once you have requested an adjudicator, the Minister of Labour then decides whether one will be appointed.

The adjudicator’s hearing is completely differ-ent from a civil lawsuit; for instance if you were to sue for wrongful dismissal, you would have to go through the courts. In our civil courts, the proce-dures are quite formal and you would find it dif-

ficult to advance a case with-out a lawyer. However, in an adjudicator’s hearing, the rules and procedures are informal and designed to ensure that all relevant information is made available to the adjudicator. The employee is free to call wit-

nesses at the hearing. Again it is not necessary to have a lawyer at this hearing but if you choose to have a lawyer represent you, you are free to do so.

Generally, in my practice I find that people who have been dismissed, do not have the funds avail-able to retain a lawyer for the hearing. However, what a lot of people do and what I am quite willing to do is consult with people and advise them what they should do and not do in preparation for the hearing and in filing a complaint.

Once the adjudication hearing is completed, the adjudicator will render a decision. This decision is binding on both the employee and he employer. The adjudicator who finds that a dismissal is unjust can order the employer to:1. Reinstate the employee with or without a mon-

etary compensation;2. Pay monetary compensation;3. Do something that is equitable and favorable to

the employee

The benefits of this approach is that the employee does not pay for the adjudicator. The cost is born by the Ministry of Labour. Furthermore, filing a complaint under the Labour Code does not prevent the employee from filing a civil suit for wrongful dismissal.

The foregoing is intended for information purposes only and you should consult a lawyer if you need legal

representation or a legal opinion.Selwyn R. Baboolal is a partner at Oumarally Baboolal practic-

ing in the area of litigation for the past 18 years.

Home Affairs

Selwyn R.

Baboolal

Bianca

Aziz


As Spring brings about the renewal of plants and adds colour to the outdoors, it

inspires us to dream up plans for the indoors where we have been snuggled up all winter.

Renovations are done for several reasons, from adding living space and increasing home equity and market val-ue, to repairing damage, becoming more energy efficient, or simply to improve comfort and convenience.

Maintenance and repair renovations focus on protect-ing and improving our investment and should be the priority as they usually require immediate attention. Retrofit projects usually focus on the home’s shell or me-chanical systems like replacing a furnace, adding siding, a new roof, or upgrading insulation. Lifestyle renova-tions are the most varied. They can help improve our way of life or give us a chance to redecorate, rearrange and redo. Some projects offer a payback, depending on how long you plan to stay in your home. Bathroom, kitchen, furnace/heating and basement renovations typically offer the highest payback.

Sometimes, it takes a only a little effort to make a big difference. Painting is the quickest way to freshen up a home and is easy to do yourself. In the kitchen, new ef-ficient appliances add appeal as well as save energy and money. Simply replacing bathroom fixtures can add new sparkle, and can shed new light on any room.

It’s also the season for reno or home repair scammers. A friendly, knowledgeable construction professional might knock on your door and offer a special discount to do a must-do repair job he just happened to notice while he was working in the neighbourhood. Perhaps they will of-fer to do a free inspection and then find a “serious” prob-lem. There might be pressure to make a quick decision and pay a deposit for the required materials. Avoid any potential for home repair fraud by dealing with a repu-table contractor and getting a detailed contract in writing.*The information in this article is not intended as specific investment, finan-

cial, accounting, and legal or tax advice for any individual.

Spring Into Home Repairs

Employment Law – Unjust Dismissal

Health LivingCARIBBEAN GRAPHIC PAGE 17February 6, 2013

by Dr George I Traitses

With drug-resistant staph infections making head-lines, many concerned patients

are trying to separate fact from fiction while learning how to best protect themselves and their families from these new “superbugs.”

Although methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, (MRSA), is probably the most talked-about drug resistant infection, today about 70 percent of bacteria that cause infections in hospitals are resis-tant to at least one common antibiotic. Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, childhood ear infections, and other bacterial conditions are getting increasingly hard to treat. Many diseases can become untreat-able, returning us to the days before antibiotics were invented. There are steps you can take, however, to help curb antibiotic resistance and reduce the likeli-hood of falling victim to MRSA and other drug resis-tant bacteria.What Causes Antibiotic Resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is a natural process in the evolution of bacteria—single-celled organisms found on the inside and outside of the body, except in sterile areas, such as blood and spinal fluid. Most bacteria are harmless and even beneficial. Some bac-teria can cause illnesses such as strep throats or ear infections, which are usually treated with antibiotic medications.

When antibiotics are taken, they kill the bacteria that are too weak to resist them—but those strong enough to withstand the antibiotic effect can survive, multiply, and dominate the bacteria strain. Many social factors contribute to antibiotic resistance, as well. use of antibiotics. Impressed by the fast-acting relief from antibiotics, patients have gotten into the habit of demanding the powerful drugs for anything that ails them—without distinguishing between bacterial infections, which can be treated by antibiotics, and viral infections, which cannot. Moreover, instead of completing the course of treatment, some stop taking

antibiotics when they feel better, contributing to bacterial resistance. Feeding antibiotics to animals—which are later consumed by humans as food—for disease prevention and for weight gain has also been a cause for concern, potentially making human illness more difficult to treat.How Can I Prevent Antibiotic Resistance?• Boost your immunity by eating a quality diet,

exercising, and reducing stress. During the cold and flu season, take vitamin C and zinc.

• Do not demand antibiotics for you or your child to treat viral infections, such as common colds, coughs, and flu. Viruses don’t respond to antibi-otics and usually resolve within a week or two. If your symptoms get worse, notify your health care provider to find the best treatment for your condition.

• Mild ear infections also heal by themselves with-in one or two weeks. Some anecdotal evidence shows that chiropractic adjustments may help relieve the pain associated with ear infections by allowing fluid to drain from the Eustachian tube.

• When prescribed antibiotics, stick to the sched-ule and take the entire dosage, even if you are feeling better. Stopping the antibiotic treat-ment too soon helps bacteria develop antibiotic resistance.

• Don’t save any antibiotics for the next time you get sick. Discard any leftover medication after completing the course of treatment.

• Don’t take an antibiotic prescribed for another

person— it may not be appropriate for your condition. Taking the wrong medication may delay recovery and prompt bacteria to multiply.

• Antibacterial cleaning products have not been proven to prevent the spread of infection better than non-antibacterial products. In fact, some preliminary studies have shown that antibacte-rial cleaning products may contribute to antibi-otic resistance.

How Can I Protect Myself From Staph and MRSA?The most effective way to prevent staph infections is to practice hygiene. Here are a few suggestions:• Wash your hands before eating, after using the

restroom, or after contact with potentially con-taminated items.

• Keep your and your kids’ wounds clean and covered. When wounds don’t heal properly, seek medical attention.

• Avoid sharing and encourage children not to share personal items such as clothes, towels, soap, and razors.

• Promptly change wet and sweaty clothes, for ex-ample, after going to the gym, to prevent staph growth.

• When working out in a gym, use your own yoga mat, shower with flip-flops, and sanitize any fit-ness equipment used.

Curbing Antibiotic ResistanceCurbing Antibiotic Resistance

Sports BeatCARIBBEAN GRAPHICPAGE 18 February 6, 2013

The Caribbean Junior and Cadet Table Tennis Championships will be staged in April in honour of the late Aubrey Edwards.

The former Trinidad and Tobago Ta-ble Tennis Association (T&TTTA) pres-ident died on January 29. Edwards also served as president of the Carib-bean Region Table Tennis Federation (CRTTF), and was a past board mem-ber of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

The decision to dedicate the regional tournament to the memory of Edwards was taken at the T&TTTA’s February 2

annual general meeting (AGM), at the Central Regional Indoor Sports Arena (CRISA), in Chaguanas,. At the AGM, Edwards was also made an honor-ary life member (posthumous) of the association.

T&T will host the Caribbean Junior and Cadet Championships between April 3 and 7. The best young players in the region will battle for under-18 and under-15 singles, doubles and team titles. The T&T challenge will be spearheaded by Aaron Wilson, Arun Roopnarine and national women’s sin-gles champion Brittany Joseph.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Deon Len-dore was in fine form at the Armory Collegiate Invitational indoor track and field meet, in New York, USA, on February 2. The 20-year-old Texas A&M University student clocked 46.49 seconds to capture the Championship men’s 400 metres title. The previous day he’d produced a 47.07 run to qual-ify fourth fastest for the finals.

Lendore, who anchored T&T to men’s 4x400m bronze at the London Olympics, is the 2013 world leader in the indoor 400m. On January 19, he won at a meet in Texas in an indoor

Fresh from a top-ten finish on her Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Junior Pro debut, Barbados’ top female surfer Chelsea Tuach was head-ing “Down Under” to compete against the world’s best. The 17-year-old reigning Caribbean women’s cham-pion finished ninth at the ASP?Junior Pro event which was held over the Jan-uary 26 weekend on the North Shore of Hawaii.

Surfing against top juniors from Ha-waii and the United States, Tuach came out blazing to win her first round heat despite the small, inconsistent surf conditions at Turtle Bay.

After advancing to the quarter-final, Tuach came third in her heat, narrowly missing a semi-final berth.

The California-based Tuach is head-ed for Australia on to compete in an ASP One Star Junior Women’s event to be held at Merewether Beach, New-castle in New South Wales from Feb-ruary 14 to 17. She will be making the trip compliments the energy drink, Red Bull, which has been sponsoring

Junior TT Championships To Honour Edwards

Bajan Tauch To Surf Down Under

Lendore Wins Indoor 400M

the surfing sensation for the past three years.

Additionally, Tuach is among 16 surfers who have been invited to the trials for the four remaining slots in the prestigious ASP Six Star Hunter Ports Women’s Classic to be held immedi-ately after the junior event from Febru-ary 18 to 24 at the same break.

Tuach’s selection was secured through her outstanding perfor-mance at her first ASP Six Star event in Oceanside last August where she placed a creditable 13th out of 80 of the world’s top professional women.

Michelle-Lee Ahye was in record-breaking form in her 2013 opener at the January 31 Knights of Columbus Sas-katchewan Indoor Games in Canada. The 20-year-old sprinter seized silver in the women’s 50 metres final in 6.33 seconds—a new Trinidad and Tobago standard.

Reigning Olympic, world and world indoor long jump champion, American Brittney Reese topped the field in 6.30.

Ahye’s 6.33 run was an improve-ment on the 6.36 T&T record she had established in the preliminary round. With the 6.36 dash, she erased Hydi-anne Harper’s 6.47 national standard from the books. Harper had produced that clocking way back in 1998.

Ahye was back on the track on Feb-ruary 2, competing in the women’s 60m dash. She picked up another sil-ver, getting to the line in a personal best 7.34 seconds, behind Reese (7.32). Ahye clocked 7.42 in the qualifying round.

Another T&T athlete, Mikel Thomas finished second in the men’s 60m hur-dles in 7.80 seconds.

At the Armory Collegiate Invitation-al, in New York, USA, Morgan State University’s Emmanuel Stewart broke his own national record in the men’s

Nigel Davis and Tamra Mitchell broke new ground for Jamaica On February 3 when they won two silver medals in ice figureskating at the Spe-cial Olympic World Winter Games.

Davis, who has previously won gold in speed skating, was confident and ex-pressive during his ice dance routine at the Yongpyong Dome ice rink (skating surface), but had to settle for second place behind the small-framed Yukto-torah Ho of Hong Kong in the Singles Male Level One category.

Mitchell and Davis then combined to win Jamaica’s second silver medal at the Championships when they were bested by the Hong Kong connection of Sze Hou Ho and Ka Man Ng in the Teams Level One segment.

Ahye In Record Breaking Form

Special Olympics Figure Skating Silver Medals For Jamaica

weight throw. He finished fifth with an 18.86m effort, improving on the 18.40m standard he had established last year.

At the Vandal Indoor meet, in Ida-ho, Shawna Fermin struck gold in the women’s 400m. The Washington State University student stopped the clock at 55.35 seconds. In Illinois, Arkan-sas State University’s Kashef Daniel cleared the bar at 1.99 metres to cap-ture the Southern Illinois University (SIU) Invitational men’s high jump ti-tle. He was 11th in the long jump with a 6.55m leap.

At the Meyo Invitational, in Indiana, University of Minnesota athlete, Alena Brooks finished second in the women’s 800m in a personal best two minutes, 06.24 seconds.

University of Southern Mississippi student Robert Colling-wood threw 17.43m to cop fourth spot in the men’s shot put. His twin brother and South-ern Miss teammate Richard Colling-wood finished sixth with a 16.91m effort.

best 45.91 seconds to claim top spot on the performance list. He is still the only athlete on the International Asso-ciation of Athletics Federations (IAAF) 2013 list with a sub-46 clocking.

Mitchell, though a picture of compo-sure in her dance patterns, narrowly missed out on bronze and had to settle for fourth place ahead of United States’ Kelly Bradshaw (fifth) in Singles Fe-male Level One action. Canadians Sara McKelvie and Meg Ohsada took re-spective gold and silver medals, while Lingkuen Cheung won bronze.

Jamaican skating coach Jacqueline Bennett expressed joy and relief with the historic accomplishment in the event and praised both athletes for the improvement they showed.


Australia handed the visiting West Indies a second convincing defeat in three days to go 2-0 up in their five-match One-Day International series. A maiden ODI century for George Bailey helped the hosts reach 266 for seven despite no other player passing 39 and five wickets from Mitchell Starc saw the West Indies dismissed for 212 in reply.

Glenn Maxwel would have been un-aware that he had just become a crick-eting millionaire in the IPL auction in Chennai and he backed up his new sta-tus with four wickets, although Sunil Narine thumped him for four sixes in as many balls as the West Indies launched a late, but ultimately futile, comeback.

Kieran Powell registered a maiden ODI century in making 83 and Dwayne Bravo made 45 but such contributions were not enough for the tourists, who now need to win all three remaining matches to clinch a series win - a turn of events that is already looking be-yond them.

They started this game well enough, Australia struggling early on as Jason Holder, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy and Bravo took a wicket apiece by dis-missing Aaron Finch (11), Usman Kha-waja (3), Phillip Hughes (21) and Mi-chael Clarke (16).

Then Bailey came into his own, first adding 37 with Matthew Wade, who fell for 16 to Narine and seeing Max-well fall for a golden duck to Sammy to leave Australia in trouble at 98 for six.

He finally found an ally in James Faulkner, who contributed 39 to a sev-enth-wicket partnership of exactly 100 as Bailey cut loose. Faulkner faced 67 balls, hitting three fours before he was caught by Powell off Sammy.

Nothing was going to stop Bailey though, and with Mitchell Johnson (16 not out) in at nine, he was able to play through the innings, not only reaching a maiden ODI century but topping his previous best in all one-day cricket, finishing on an excellent 125 not out in 110 balls, hitting 10 fours and four sixes.

West Indies Women broke a host of records, Stafanie Taylor with a number of them by scoring 171, as they crushed Sri Lanka Women by 209 runs in their second World Cup match in Mumbai.

Faced with a must-win situation af-ter they were well beaten by India in their opener, they responded perfectly, piling up 368 for eight and then dis-missing Sri Lanka for 159.

Taylor’s 171 is the third highest ODI innings of all time, behind only Belin-da Clark’s 229 and Charlotte Edwards’ 173, both scored in the 1997 World Cup.

The 209-run winning margin lies just outside the top 20 in women’s ODI his-tory while twins Kycia (30) and Kysho-na (44) Knight both top scored, adding a neat symmetry to the West Indian in-nings - the seventh highest of all time and highest by a West Indian side.

Sri Lanka had pulled off a remark-able one-wicket win over England in their first game but there was to be no repeat as they could last only 40 overs in reply and none of their players could reach 30 as Shaquana Quintyne grabbed three for 32.

Taylor blasted 18 fours and two six-es in her whirlwind 137-ball innings, and was well supported by the Knight twins and then Deandra Dottin, who smashed 50 in 22 deliveries with five fours and four sixes.

Further runs were added late on by Merissa Aguilleira, who made 47 not out in 24 deliveries.

Sri Lanka were then just as out-classed when they came to bat and lost wickets regularly, the West Indies nev-er losing control of the match.

Quintyne, Shanel Daley (2-35), Sha-kera Selman (1-35), Anisa Moham-med (1-10), Taylor (1-10) and Kyshona Knight (1-3) all picked up wickets as the West Indies showed off their versa-tility by using nine bowlers. Top scorer for Sri Lanka was Deepika Rasangi-ka (28) while Prasadani Weerakoddy

Windies Women I Record Breaking Win

Aussies Go Two Up Against Windies

The loss of sight in his right eye for over two weeks earlier this month has prompted West Indies and Jamaican batting star, Marlon Samuels, to come to the aid of students at the Salvation Army School for the Blind.

“Before the accident my founda-tion was being set up towards helping kids,” Samuels said. “The foundation is not fully up, but I wanted to address the situation right away by just starting to help with the blind as well.”

Samuels recently handed over a cheque valued at J$50,000 to acting principal, Esmie Taylor, to fund five students to sit five CXC subjects each.

The 31-year-old all-rounder got a brush with what most of the students have endured all their lives, when he was struck by a bouncer from Lasith Malinga on January 6 in the Australian Big Bash T20 League cricket match be-tween the Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars.

“Me sitting in a room where if I closed my left eye I couldn’t see out of my right eye, it was total darkness,” Samuels recounted. “If I felt like that for two weeks, imagine how they (the blind students) feel to be living like this for their entire life. I want to give them the opportunity to further their education, so I will continue to pay for CXCs and stuff like that.”

Taylor welcomed the pleasant surprise.

“I am extremely pleased because we were not expecting it; I just sudden-ly got a call saying Marlon Samuels would like to make a donation to us,” Taylor shared. “I assisted by suggest-ing certain things and they said ‘no, we are not going that big, it is just a start’, and then we came down to this. So I am very elated, because time and time again our students have difficulty pay-ing their CXC fees.”

Following the injury in Australia, Samuels spent over two weeks in a hotel room, as he was ordered not to move to avoid permanent damage to his eye. The accident has, however, acted as a wake-up call and has result-ed in Samuels making a commitment to support the school, which includes the purchasing of well-needed Braille machines, which are used by the blind for writing.

“I will definitely get sponsors on board, so I can gain more and earn more, so I can give back more to them,” Samuels expressed. “We got some information about the (Braille) machines, but I wanted to do some-thing right away and the machine has to come from abroad. But I am going to get quite a few for them as well to help them.”

Eye Injury Scare Prompts Samuels To Help The Blind

made 22, a career-best - which rather highlighted the difference between the two sides on the day.

Both sides go into the final round of matches - West Indies taking on Eng-land and Sri Lanka meeting India with a chance of reaching the Super Sixes.


Caribbean Graphic February 2013

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